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Hi all. The forums are back online. I've also tried to upgrade from the very old version of SMF that it was using. The upgrade wasn't totally successful and I only managed to move from 1.0.8 to 1.0.16. The latest stable version is actually 2.0.14, but I can't get past the one installed without error. Please let me know if you find any issues ...

I'm trying out Pirate/EB/Berserker. I've decided pirate and berserker are must characters. Pirate is a must because is an efficient way to win material (fleets)on offense, and you can imagine what you can do against a player without a pirate on attack, so therefore a must on defense. The ability to make a sure capture of a world and capture home fleets, plus make worlds difficult to be used by players without one, makes berserker a must, even without considering the possibilities in an end-game. Myexperience in my first Multi BE confirms this -- I captured four HWs of dropouts with cheap berserker attacks, gaining more from the home fleets, rather than firingover a hundred shots at the home fleets and taking return fire.

Having played some, I'm convinced that the EB is a viable or superior option to the merchant. The EB player just needs to avoid early war, then can build up industry at a good pace and still gain from attacking dropouts/poor players. The 30 industry of a non-captured HW is equivalent to producible with only 120 ships, and that 30 industry can be built at non-HW sites and thus not require hauling. As stated in previous posts, the ships saved by a merchant are limited, and become much less important later in the game. With the Mine increases, Metal becomes plentiful, and if a new HW is about to be captured, Metal can be brought in with the attack to produce an initial surplus, meaning merchants are much less important in conquered territory.

Yes, there is a loss in initial production, too, but I've found that with a surplus of keys for exploration, due to the connections between empires of HWs, the loss is much less in a multi-game then in a regular game, as hauling can start relatively early, and the ships needed for hauling are available fairly quickly. It's mainly a question of prioritizing ships for hauling of ships to explore rings 4 and 5, to gain extra keys and outlying worlds. For the EB, the outlying worlds are more valuable as they can be industrialized. Keys are always valuable.

So an early war is likely to sink the Pirate/Berserker/EB, but if the game lasts enough, I expect the combination to out-ship the merchant. However, I would note that my style IS to go to war early and totally, so this combination, even though I am playing it, is against my style.

Ahhh, just realized S and B were the same person. S invaded W about the time I invaded J, S shot at W about the time J started giving B worlds I was about to cap. W spent a couple turns consolidating S then needed a target.

The winner W invaded his target T. T responded by giving W all his worlds and keys. Then sucker S made the mistake of invading W, and got handily wiped out. Meanwhile I invaded jerkoff J, who promptly started shooting I off his homeworlds, and giving worlds I was about to cap to bystander B. This lead to tensions between B and I, leading to B invading me. We were about to have our first big battle when for some reason B withdrew. Turned out B had made the mistake of shooting at W and W responded with a massive invasion. The game ended 2 turns later.